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I've been wanting make a starburst mirror since I moved in to our new house last summer. I have a small living room/dining room so I've been wanting to hang a mirror to add a little more depth and this is a cool way to do it.

I was keeping my eyes open over the last few months for a cheap mirror and I finally found one at Value Village (originally from Ikea) for a whopping $7.99. I already had about half the dowels, some of which are bamboo bbq skewers, and I got the rest of the dowels in the craft section of the dollar store where I also picked up some extra glue gun sticks. In total, I spent about $16 on this project. The biggest expense was probably elbow grease.

So, 2016 was a weak year for this blog. I was mostly distracted with work and a new house, plus two big trips, to Ireland and Russia. Hopefully I can get myself back on track this year but I feel like I have a lot to learn again. All that said, it's 2017 now and I recently tried a new recipe that warranted a blog post.

I like to follow tradition at Christmastime and bake a bunch of sweet treats to share with co-workers, friends and family. But I find that most years I end up throwing away lot of leftovers after the holidays because some desserts just doesn't strike people's fancy.

So this year, I was looking for something different than my usual cookies and brownies. And, flipping through the pages of the New Cook Book from Better Homes and Gardens, I stumbled upon marshmallows and thought, what the heck.

It might not always be obvious, but almost everything we say and do can be linked to a story that will grab someone's attention. This course has been beneficial in reminding me of that.

I used to post photos on Instagram, Pinterest or even my blog without so much as a keyword to make it stand out. Since learning more about storytelling, I've taken to re-vamping my online personae and to share my content with a little bit more personality.

I have an Etsy shop where I sell photographs, mostly travel photos. Each posting is pretty mundane with sizes, prices, etc., however I have begun revamping (slowly, for now) by sharing those photos on Pinterest with a story or some insight.

By adding my own little anecdotes, they are not only being found more often thanks to key words, but they are also providing information.

Countless industries are flawed, and it only really became apparent in our lifetime – because of the worldwide web.

Where experts in certain fields used to be revered for their individuality, the internet has unleashed armies of similar experts, each competing for the top spot and none of these industries really know how to deal with the influx.

I could write about how the journalism field is flawed because it doesn’t know how to deal with all the people who call themselves journalists. Countless people in Canada alone get articles published without any knowledge of the basic principles of Canadian Press style writing.

Or, I could write about how the art world is flawed because anyone with a smart phone can be deemed a photographer without ever knowing what SLR means.

In the age of social media, your personal brand is becoming more crucial than your resumé. We are in charge of curating our own digital portfolios and we need to remember this every day when we post online.

Throughout the years, I have aimed to follow a particular theme when posting to my blog, Twitter or Instagram: To continuously educate myself and others on writing and other crafts by remaining in tune with today’s events and trends online and in the real world. It’s quite general but it fits.

My area of expertise is in writing and journalism.
To begin, I am not a journalist but my job is to write, my hobby is to write and my whole life, I have been honing that skill.

I work in media relations where I am tuned in to current events, which also happens to be one of my most common past times.
My whole life I have been fascinated by world events and journalism practices.

I am an educated media fiend who reads and uses the news from major media outlets every day. When I read an article, I am not only learning about the event in question, I am seeing how that journalist obtained his or her information, and I am weeding out the bias and superfluous content.

I have a blog where I write on a number of topics including journalism and social media, as well as travel tips and stories, lifestyle subjects (such as cooking and thrift shopping) and I also showcase some of my photography.

Etsy is celebrating 10 years this month - Happy Birthday Etsy! - and they recently featured a blog post listing the various trends that have gone rampant on their vintage and handmade e-commerce site.

Trends like mustaches and owls (just to name a couple) have come and gone and I've made a point of documenting some of the trends I've observed over the years too.

Some of my past treasuries have featured items of the cloud, zebra and pineapple variety. And today, I created a new treasury dedicated to sperm whales. I was inspired by this one after going to the Urban Craft Market last weekend where, through the cloud of patchouli, I noticed the absence of fake taxidermy, and an abundance of Moby Dick.

(Some dude somewhere is sporting a long beard and a Moby Dick tattoo on his forearm. For sure.)

By the way, I also posted a few more listings in my print shop. They're not as cool as sperm whales but these are a few photos among many, many, many more I want to share. And I will. As soon as I get around to editing them.

I also have a few more travel posters in the works - one in particular for Halifax.

But for now, it's time to go enjoy a full week away from work and computers. Happy Summer!